Grain mill - on eBay

[peekaboo_jones]

Hi there,
Would one of these be suitable for grain milling?
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=351186974280&alt=web

 

[Yob]

yes and no..

 

[Yob]

have a search for "which mill" in the top right..

happy reading

LINK to one relevant thread

 

[QldKev]

It's known as a corona mill. It will crush the grain, but it wont be a nice crush. You will get away with it for BIAB, but no as easily with a 3V as 3V relies moreso on a decent grain bed. Some use them, I would not. (I do have one for crushing corn). Search for "corona mill" on here and start reading up.

 

[manticle]

I use one and have done for years. I do not biab. It crushes as well as any other mill I've seen as long as you set the plates properly and watch the crush. Crush I get from grain and grape when I order cracked grain is similar and behaves similarly on my system (efficiency, drainage, etc).
Drawbacks are - by hand and small hopper so crushing can be a chore. I only brew 22 L batches but if I was doing significantly bigger ones, I'd look at something I can motorise.
Also my understanding is they may not all be created equal - I might have got lucky. That price however is so cheap ( mine was twice that and mine was comparably cheap to retail prices) that I'd consider taking a punt.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Thanks everyone, I'll do a bit more research.
It would be nice to mill myself although for what I do it's probably just as easy to order cracked grain from the brew shops

 

[BrosysBrews]

I use one, only just got into BIAB, have found it works ok, takes me about 10-15min to crush 4kg while getting a free workout at the same time

 

[philmud]

Thanks everyone, I'll do a bit more research.
It would be nice to mill myself although for what I do it's probably just as easy to order cracked grain from the brew shops

I think this is a key consideration. If you're ordering grain on a per-brew basis, there's little advantage in cracking your own grist. On the other hand, if you want to take advantage of bulk buys, or like to have ingredients on hand so you can brew on a whim, it's necessary to have access to some kind of mill.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

So I bought the cheap eBay corona mill. Out of the box it needs some adjustment and testing to grind the grain to a reasonable quality.

I'm about to do some simple modifications to improve the grind further.
- add washers between wing nuts and pressure frame
- cut a 13mm thread on the auger rod and screw a nut on with a plastic washer or rubber washer (currently has a split pin to retain) this will increase stability of the grind during rotation and take some imperfections out of the grinding plates. The split pin is pretty wobbly!

I'll take some pictures when I get it completed and share.

I'm still doing kits but starting to buy a good range of specialty grains un-milled by the kg so I can trailer my recipes at hand without needing to get down to the local brew shop in a hurry Saturday mornings.